Abstract The cork oak (Quercus suber L.) forests are ecosystems of high environmental and socioeconomic value in the Mediterranean basin. However, in Algeria, the cork oak forests are highly threatened by repeated fires, overgrazing and the anthropogenic pressure that weaken the ecosystem of cork oak and affect its natural regeneration. This degradation results in an alteration of many ecological components of the cork oak, such as fungal communities in the soil. Thus, the aim of this work is to study the effects of cork oak stand degradation on the diversity of mycorrhizal communities associated with Quercus suber and some of its understory shrubs (Cistus monspeliensis, Lavandula stoechas and Thymus vulgaris) in the forest of Brabtia (northeastern Algeria).For this purpose, two sites were chosen: one degraded by the anthropogenic factors and the other non-degraded one. Moreover, it is suggested that some plants of the understory shrub vegetation of cork oak, such as the cistus, lavender and thyme, prove to be favourable to the juvenile growth of this tree. The results obtained showed that the ectomycorrhizal (EcM) root colonization of cistus was higher compared to that of cork oak in both stations. The estimation of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) colonization showed significantly higher levels in the roots of cork oak, cistus, lavender and thyme in the degraded station compared with the non-degraded stations. In contrast, the rhizosphere soils of cork oak and cistus had low number of AM propagules and fungal spores, while under the roots of lavender and thyme, these two parameters were greatly improved with the abundance of the genera Glomus and Gigaspora. These results underline the need to take into account the plant–fungus interactions in the development of restoration strategies of the degraded soils and forest ecosystems.


The article locates current South African government proposals for establishing a national health service (referred to as National Health Insurance) in its historical context. The attempt to create a national health service in South Africa is not a new policy idea, having been preceded by two prior unsuccessful attempts, in the 1940s and the 1990s. The institutional and political obstacles to re-distributive health policy achieving its egalitarian outcomes are examined. The article argues that the current 'third NHI moment' for health care reform in South Africa will need to resolve key concerns if it is to be successful. These include vested interests in the private sector, severe problems of capacity to deliver on quality health care in the public sector, the problem of drawing the middle class back into public forms of health care provision, availability of fiscal resources to sustain a universal system of provision and the 'gate-keeping' function of the Treasury in regards such fiscal resources, and provincial opposition to central government control of health care provision. Not least political support for a universal health care service beyond championing by the Department of Health and its minister of Health will be a vital element in achieving a universal system of health care it is argued.


In wireless mesh networks (WMNs), mesh clients communicate with each other via the gateway and bridging functions of mesh routers. The performance of a WMN is generally affected by its network connectivity and client coverage, both of which are determined by its router node placement (RNP) in the deployment area. For simplicity, previous works considered only the RNP where each mesh client is served as an equal. In practice, however, mesh clients should be served with different priorities owing to factors such as their importance and their different payments for the service access. To fulfil this requirement, by assuming that each mesh client is also associated with a service priority, this paper investigates an RNP problem with a service priority constraint in which the mesh clients with service priorities higher than a threshold must be served. Given that this problem inherited from the complexity of the original RNP problem is computationally intractable in general, this paper also develops a novel simulated annealing (SA) approach that takes into account momentum terms to improve the efficiency and accuracy of annealing schedules and prevent fluctuations in values of the acceptance probability function. Additionally, the time complexity of the proposed SA algorithm is analyzed. Furthermore, evaluation of different-size instances under various parameters and annealing schedules demonstrates the superiority of the proposed approach.


Polyamide 6 (PA6) based nanocomposites toughened with 20 wt% maleated styrene-ethylene-butylene-stryrene (mSEBS) reinforced with 1-7 wt% silicon carbide nanoparticles (SiCp) were fabricated via melt blending followed by injection molding. Tensile results showed that SiCp additions improve the Young's modulus and tensile strength of PA6/mSEBS blends but decrease their tensile ductility and impact strength. EWF test revealed that the SiCp additions reduce both the specific essential work of fracture and specific non-essential plastic work of fracture. Thus SiCp additions are detrimental to the fracture toughness of PA6/mSEBS blend.


Environmental chemicals with hormone-like activity can disrupt programming of endocrine signaling pathways during development and result in adverse effects, some of which may not be apparent until much later in life. Recent reports link exposure to environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals during development with adverse health consequences, including obesity and diabetes. These particular diseases are quickly becoming significant public health problems and are fast reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. This review summarizes data from experimental animals and humans which support an association of endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as diethylstilbestrol, bisphenol A, phytoestrogens, phthalates, and organotins, with the development of obesity. Potential mechanisms are summarized and future research needs are discussed.


Verapamil was shown to improve the glucose absorption whereas perfusion of the rat small intestine with high-calcium solution decreased it. The transport system of glucose following the membrane hydrolysis proved rather stable under the effect of calcium. Stress seems to depress somewhat the mechanisms of glucose transport and to increase the calcium level in enterocytes against the background of occurring hypercalcemia.


Teaching Maritime English Vocabulary to cadets can be very challenging for an English teacher. Cadets have daily tight schedules and physical activities that often consume their energy. It is important for the teachers to find out a strategy that is effective to be implemented in the classroom. This research was aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS) and Word Mapping Strategy (WMS) to teach Maritime English vocabulary of cadets with high and low metacognitive awareness. This study employed a quasi-experimental design with a 2x2 factorial design.Two experimental groups of the first year Nautical Cadetsof Semarang Merchant Marine Polytechnic were involved in this study. There were 36 participants.  Metacognitive Awareness Inventory and Maritime English Vocabulary Assessment were used as the instrument for collecting the data. Observation was also conducted to support the data findings. To analyze the data, Paired Sample T-test and Two Way ANOVA were used.The research findings showed that both VSS and WMS are effective to be used in teaching Maritime English Vocabulary to cadets with high and low metacognitive awareness. However, when we compared the effectiveness of VSS and WMS, the findings revealed that VSS was more effective to be used in both high and low metacognitively aware cadets.The statistical analysis showed that there is an interaction among vocabulary teaching strategies, metacognitive awareness and vocabulary mastery.


With millions of videos with different messages uploaded per year, companies are increasingly looking for means of making their messages stand against competitors. A theory of viral marketing is used to analyze and understand the spread of-and reactions to-a controversial political mega-viral video, Kony 2012. Through this analysis, policy makers and marketers could gain a better understanding of how they can use mediums such as YouTube to extend their messages. Kony 2012 concerns the highly publicized leader of a Ugandan guerrilla group, Joseph Kony. The video was a call to action and an attempt to educate the world about the atrocities committed in Sudan. The video was made by an organization called the Invisible Children and created by filmmaker Jason Russell. Following the extraordinary success of Kony 2012, Jason Russell was infamously arrested in San Diego for indecent exposure. The story and video of Russell's arrest and breakdown similarly went viral. The framework that follows analyzes the virality of a political video and the downfall of its creator.


PURPOSE
Endometrial carcinoma is the most common gynecologic malignancy which is associated with a poor prognosis when diagnosed at an advanced stage; therefore, the discovery of efficacious new drugs is required to reinforce conventional chemotherapy. Short-term cultures of primary cells from endometrial tumors could be used for testing new anticancer therapeutics as well as for the development of personalized cancer therapy strategy. Here, the antitumor effect of a recombinant analogue of lactaptin (RL2), a new potential anticancer molecule, was examined against primary human endometrial cancer cells.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Primary cell cultures of malignant and normal human endometrium were performed by enzymatic digestion of endometrial tissue from biopsy material. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to determine the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) state of estrogen (ERs) and progesterone (PRs) hormone receptors and aromatase (Cyp 19) in cell cultures. Dynamic monitoring of cell adhesion and proliferation was made using the iCELLigence system (ASEA Biosciences). The sensitivity of cell cultures to conventional anticancer drugs and the lactaptin analog was estimated by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, flow cytometry, and the iCELLligence system.

RESULTS
Established short-term primary cultures of endometrial cancer cells were ERα/ERβ/PR-positive and sensitive for RL2. The IC 50 values of doxorubicin and cisplatin were determined for all of the primary cultures designed. KE normal cells displaying low Cyp19 mRNA levels and high ERβ and PR mRNA levels were more resistant to RL2 treatment as well as to cisplatin and doxorubicin.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that the recombinant analog of lactaptin, RL2, exerts cytotoxic effects against primary hormone-dependent endometrial tumor cells in vitro with features of apoptosis.


This paper examines local vibrations in the stay cables of a cable-stayed bridge subjected to wind gusts. The wind loads, including the self-excited load and the buffeting load, are converted into time-domain values using the rational function approximation and the multidimensional autoregressive process, respectively. The global motion of the girder, which is generated by the wind gusts, is analyzed using the modal analysis method. The local vibration of stay cables is calculated using a model in which an inclined cable is subjected to time-varying displacement at one support under global vibration. This model can consider both forced vibration and parametric vibration. The response characteristics of the local vibrations in the stay cables under wind gusts are described using an existing cable-stayed bridge. The results of the numerical analysis show a significant difference between the combined parametric and forced vibrations and the forced vibration.


A key comparison of the standards for absorbed dose to water of the VSL, Dutch Metrology Institute, Delft, The Netherlands and of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) was carried out in the 60Co radiation beam of the BIPM in December 2017. The comparison result, based on the calibration coefficients for two transfer standards and expressed as a ratio of the VSL and the BIPM standards for absorbed dose to water, is 0.9960 with a combined standard uncertainty of 4.8 x 10-3. The results are analysed and presented in terms of degrees of equivalence, suitable for entry in the BIPM key comparison database. KEY WORDS FOR SEARCH Absorbed dose to water, 60Co, key comparison, radiation dosimetry Main text To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCRI, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).


Alpine ice patches are unique repositories of cryogenically preserved archaeological artefacts and biological specimens. Recent melting of ice in the Selwyn Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada, has exposed layers of dung accumulated during seasonal use of ice patches by mountain woodland caribou of the ancestral Redstone population over the past ca. 5250 years. Although attempts to isolate the DNA of known caribou parasites were unsuccessful, the dung has yielded numerous well-preserved and diverse plant remains and palynomorphs. Plant remains preserved in dung suggest that the ancestral Redstone caribou population foraged on a variety of lichens (30%), bryophytes and lycopods (26.7%), shrubs (21.6%), grasses (10.5%), sedges (7.8%), and forbs (3.4%) during summer use of alpine ice. Dung palynomorph assemblages depict a mosaic of plant communities growing in the caribou's summer habitat, including downslope boreal components and upslope floristically diverse herbaceous communities. Pollen and spore content of dung is only broadly similar to late Holocene assemblages preserved in lake sediments and peat in the study region, and differences are likely due to the influence of local vegetation and animal forage behaviour. The 5000-year legacy of summer use of alpine ice patches by mountain woodland caribou suggests that these small, long-lived features may be important for the health of caribou populations in the Selwyn/Mackenzie Mountain range.


Despite the plethora of information on seed characteristics and seedling vigor in cotton, the near-continuous release of new cultivars coupled with limited information on seedling vigor for field conditions necessitates re-evaluation of seed characteristics important for vigorous seedling growth and plant establishment. Consequently, seedling vigor (fresh weight at the 2 to 3 leaf stage) and stand establishment were evaluated for 11 cotton cultivars across five locations in Georgia during the 2012 growing season. Seed size, seed oil content, and seed protein content were also evaluated for each cultivar. Cultivar differences in seedling vigor existed under field conditions for the genotypes evaluated. Genotypic correlations and regression analysis revealed a negative relationship between oil (%) and protein contents for quiescent seeds (r 2 = 0.945). Additionally, positive relationships were observed between seedling vigor and total seed oil content (r 2 = 0.573), and seedling vigor and seed size (r 2 = 0.642). Cultivar differences existed in germination responses to incubation time and temperature, but these responses were not necessarily predictive of seedling vigor. These data indicate that information on seed oil content and seed size could help identify cultivars or seed sources with potential for high seedling vigor for use in production scenarios where reduced seedling vigor may limit productivity.


Formation of self-assembled chains of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) on the Cu(100) surface has been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory calculations that include semiempirical van der Waals (vdW) interaction corrections. The calculations show that the chain structures observed in the experiments can only be explained by including the vdW interactions. The molecules are tilted along the chain in order to achieve maximal intermolecular interaction. The chains are metastable on the surface, which is consistent with the experimental observation that they disappear after annealing. The fact that all TTF chains observed in the experiment are short might be possibly explained by the interplay between the stabilizing vdW molecule-molecule interaction and the destabilizing rearrangement of surface atoms due to the strong molecule-substrate interaction.


: A correlation between the individual features of the activity of renal enzymes and the expression of aminoglycoside (gentamicin) induced nephrotoxicity is established in hydronephrotic rabbits. The level of gentamicin-induced damage of the kidney is more significant in rabbits with initially (prior to gentamicin administration) increased activity of lactate dehydrogenase, decreased activity of succinate dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase, and low content of ribonucleoproteins.


A seismic interpretation and mapping project of the Intra Stage IV F, Upper Lingan Fan Unit was carried out in the deepwater Sabah area 120 km northwest of Kota Kinabalu. The objective of the. project was to delineate the internal architecture of the Upper Seismic sequence of Lingan Fan Unit in an attempt to understand the environment of deposition and the processes involved. With the understanding of depositional environment, reservoir characteristics could be interpreted. The Upper Lingan Fan Unit is a multi-sequence turbidite unit characterised by a period of active channelling and downcutting of earlier deposits as the Lingan Fan progrades basinward. Three seismic facies were delineated from interpreted seismic paper sections of several vintages. Isochores of these three facies were generated and analysed in relation to a depth structure map on Top Lingan Fan Unit. The mapped turbidite sequence is interpreted to be a combination of: a) channel lobe (Facies I), b) levee-channeVcrevasse splay deposits (Facies II) and c) onlapping distal lowstand prograding wedge (Facies III). Identification and interpretation of these facies gives a better understanding of the possible reservoir quality found in any exploration prospects. The results of this shallow analogue study give a better insight in the complex processes involved in the deposition of a turbidite system. Additionally, it also highlights the complexities and resolution issues to be expected in a seismic interpretation at deeper depths. With the availability of high quality seismic data, it is possible to delineate the internal architecture and constrain the predicted reservoir quality in turbidite prospects.


Introduction One of the challenges that stands before the aging population is the integration and mental and physical wellbeing of the elderly, and building the culture of active ageing. Meeting this challenge requires the activity of professionals who, in alliance with the work and services of the local governments, will become able to organise programmes that meet the needs and demands of the older citizens.
This objective is targeted by the Elderly Service Officer Trainings provided by Family-Friendly Country Public Beneficiary Ltd.
Methods: Our goal is to enable future Elderly Service Officers to actively contribute and enforce lawful practice to preparing, organising and implementing local civil programmes that target active aging; to recognise the special needs of the older citizens; and to orient within the legal environment of the programmes for the elderly. They should become able to co-operate efficiently with local government officials and NGOs supporting active ageing.
Training topics: 1. Active ageing and mental wellbeing, 2. Community development, networking, volunteering, 3. Environment for active ageing, 4. Planning and implementing elderly friendly programmes.
As regards to monitoring effectiveness, above activity indicators, we survey the changes of attitudes among trainees, and further activities of the Elderly Service Officers. The effectiveness studies are in progress.
Results: Since May 2019, 16 study groups with 238 attendees have been launched (11 in Budapest és 5 on the countryside), and 12 groups have finished, yielding 144 certified trainees. We are planning a further set of 23 groups for 2021, in order to achieve the planned number of participants of 1000.
Discussion: Further development of the training will depend on our future results.
Supported by: Grant No. EFOP-1.2.6-VEKOP-17-2017-00001, "Family Friendly Country Project.
References:
L Patyán, JI Tóth, AM Tróbert, R Wernigg: Methodology to Aid the Community Inclusion and Person-Centered Care of Older Generations. Family-Friendly Country Public Beneficiary Ltd., 2019.


With the rapid development of sequencing techniques, the situation where a newly sequenced genome needs to be annotated using available genomes from close species should become more prevalent in the future. However, because of the cost of genome finishing we may have to handle incomplete or not fully assembled genomes. Undoubtedly, the need for comparative annotation will increase, but the genomic community still lack computational solutions that are both efficient and sensitive under various conditions. Present approaches are mainly based on the sequence similarity detected at the gene or protein levels, which are mostly further analysed independently one of each other, despite the dependency implied by the genome. Hence, we propose a novel approach to genome comparison and use it to develop a system that transfers annotations between the compared genomes. Besides features' sequence similarity, it accounts for the synteny it detects across multiple genomes. This approach is simple for it avoids to solve complex questions that makes other approaches computationally hard. The underlying idea is to partition a focus genome according to its pairwise similarities with the other compared genomes. The question is formulated as searching for the intervals that are shared across all genomes under consideration, and maximal in length (i.e., not extendible). If a genomic region is covered by at least one interval it is conserved across all genomes, and the number of such intervals tells how many possibilities exist for aligning it with different regions of the other genomes. Hence, our algorithm partitions the genome into regions following two criteria: 1/ being shared or unshared across all genomes, 2/ offering a unique or several alignment possibilities. The annotation transfer procedure crosses the focus genome's annotations with these regions and automatically derives the possible alignments for each feature. All features falling entirely in a region offering only one alignment possibility are declared as potentially transferable, and the user may interactively select among those according to various criteria: alignment's percent of identity, feature class, etc. We implemented these procedures in an efficient and flexible tool, named QOD, equipped with a user-friendly graphical interface. Graphical and textual results representations allow both to grasp the overall genome similarity at a glance and to browse the conserved and unshared features in various ways. This enables the investigation of genome specific genes or of rearrangements, and copy number variations, for instance. For it does not require the genome sequence to be completely assembled, our approach allows to compare and pre-annotate unfinished genomes, as well as assemblies of Next Generation Sequencing data.


Hundreds of anomalies, factors, or characteristic portfolios have been discovered whose risk-return spread is not explained by benchmark empirical factor models. Each of these is a potential candidate as a factor in such models. Efforts to narrow down this plethora of candidates to a parsimonious set has mainly relied on econometric and statistical tools. Standard textbooks, however, emphasize that factors in models proxy for the marginal utility of aggregate consumption growth. Imposing the economic restrictions that this link implies, we find that only 10-20 per cent of this forest of factors impound news about future consumption growth, the low-frequency risk of consumption growth or its extreme tails i.e. bad times. Interestingly, new factors used in models that perform better than the benchmark models do better in passing economically motivated hurdles. Our results imply that imposing theoretical restrictions, on this forest of potential factors can impose discipline, in the search for an ex-post MV efficient portfolios. In addition, applying an economic chainsaw to yet to be discovered anomalies could curb the growth of this forest.


There is growing evidence on the role of peripheral µ-opioid receptors (MORs) in analgesia and analgesic tolerance. Opioid analgesics are the mainstay in the management of moderate to severe pain, and their efficacy in the alleviation of pain is well recognized. Unfortunately, chronic treatment with opioid analgesics induces central analgesic tolerance, thus limiting their clinical usefulness. Numerous molecular mechanisms, including receptor desensitization, G-protein decoupling, β-arrestin recruitment, and alterations in the expression of peripheral MORs and microbiota have been postulated to contribute to the development of opioid analgesic tolerance. However, these studies are largely focused on central opioid analgesia and tolerance. Accumulated literature supports that peripheral MORs mediate analgesia, but controversial results on the development of peripheral opioid receptors-mediated analgesic tolerance are reported. In this review, we offer evidence on the consequence of the activation of peripheral MORs in analgesia and analgesic tolerance, as well as approaches that enhance analgesic efficacy and decrease the development of tolerance to opioids at the peripheral sites. We have also addressed the advantages and drawbacks of the activation of peripheral MORs on the sensory neurons and gut (leading to dysbiosis) on the development of central and peripheral analgesic tolerance.


From sets and simple operations on sets, a Feynman Checkerboard physics model is constructed that allows computation of force strength constants and constituent mass ratios of elementary particles, with a Lagrangian structure that gives a Higgs scalar particle mass of about 146 GeV and a Higgs scalar field vacuum expectation value of about 252 GeV, giving a tree level constituent Truth Quark (top quark) mass of roughly 130 GeV, which is (in my opinion) supported by dileptonic events and some semileptonic events. See this http URL and this http URL
Chapter 1 - Introduction.
Chapter 2 - From Sets to Clifford Algebras.
Chapter 3 - Octonions and E8 lattices.
Chapter 4 - E8 spacetime and particles.
Chapter 5 - HyperDiamond Lattices.
Chapter 6 - Internal Symmetry Space.
Chapter 7 - Feynman Checkerboards.
Chapter 8 - Charge = Amplitude to Emit Gauge Boson.
Chapter 9 - Mass = Amplitude to Change Direction.
Chapter 10 - Protons, Pions, and Physical Gravitons.


The paper describes an algorithm for determining the line outage contingency of a line taking into account of line over load effect in remaining lines and subsequent tripping of over loaded line(s) leading to possible system split or islanding of a power system. The optimally ordered sparse [ Bʹ ], [ Bʺ ] matrices for the integrated system are used for load flow analysis to determine modified values of voltage phase angles [d] and bus voltages [V] to determine the over loading effect on the remaining lines due to outage of a selected line outage contingency. In case of over loading in remaining line(s), the over loaded lines are removed from the system and a topology processor is used to find the islands. A fast decoupled load flow (FDLF) analysis is carried out for finding out the system variables for the islanded (or single island) system by incorporating appropriate modification in the [ Bʹ ] and [ Bʺ ] matrices of the integrated system. Keywords: Contingency; Line outage; Rotating mass; System islanding


This thesis examines the Ontario government's decision to allow for the expansion of Conducted Energy Weapons (CEWs) to all front-line police officers. I utilize a framework of pacification strategies that illustrate the way in which police services, particularly the Ottawa Police Service, should implement a CEW policy for the deployment of the weapon in order to achieve effective police-community partnerships. The decision to expand CEWs demonstrates an abdication of responsibility on the part of the province to local police agencies and the new policy provides little guidance. It is important that local agencies develop strong and effective CEW policies for the purpose of enhancing public and police safety as well as ensuring meaningful accountability in Ontario. I analyze several provincial and agency CEW guidelines in order to facilitate the development of effective CEW guidelines at the agency level and, importantly, to ensure accountability for when these weapons are deployed.


There has been much international and scholarly attention for, on the one hand, 'overpopulation' or 'high fertility rates'; and, on the other hand, experiences of infertility. Little light has been shed, however, on the marginal 'in-between' situation of women experiencing reproductive loss, that is: being able to conceive, but having problems with carrying pregnancies successfully to term. It is the experiences and decisions of those women who do not immediately attain high fertility rates, but are not infertile either that will be at the centre of this study. Based on anthropological fieldwork in East Cameroon in 2004-2005, this article places the experiences of these women within their social contexts by first describing the relevant fields of gender, kinship and marriage in the village of Ndemba I and exemplifying their significance through a personal illness narrative. It then discusses the two major themes that were explored through participant observation, interviews, free listing and pile sorting: the perceived causes and the social consequences of pregnancy-loss. By understanding both the aetiology of and the help-seeking behaviour after pregnancy-loss in the light of the given contexts in the village, it becomes clear that the lives of women who experience pregnancy-loss are characterized by marginality and ambiguity. Not only are their status as a woman and the status of the foetus as a person contested; pregnancy-loss itself is also a phenomenon that is surrounded by doubts and suspicion. It is however this ambiguity that leaves some free room for manoeuvring and enables women to aspire certain ambitions that might run counter the patriarchal ideal of bearing many children. Thus, this article shows that the generally assumed distinction between wanted and unwanted pregnancies or unintended and intended losses - that is, abortions - becomes blurred within the ambiguous dynamics of the prenatal period. It argues that both suffering and agency are dialectically connected within the marginal phenomenon of pregnancy-loss.


Protein P trimers isolated and purified from Pseudomonas aeruginosa outer membrane were reconstituted in planar lipid bilayer membranes from diphytanoyl phosphatidylcholine. The protein trimers formed highly anion-specific channels with an average single channel conductance of 160 pS in 0.1 M Cl solution. A variety of different nonvalent anions were found to be permeable through the channel, which suggests a channel diameter between 0.5 and 0.7 nm. The selectivity for the halides followed the Eisenman sequence AVI (without At-). The ion transport through the protein P channel could be explained reasonably well by a one-site, two-barrier model. The stability constant of the binding of Cl- to the site was 20 M-1 at neutral pH. The binding of anions to the site was pH dependent, which suggested that several charges are involved in the closely spaced selectivity filter. Permeability ratios for different anions as calculated from bi-ionic potentials showed agreement with corresponding ratios of single channel conductances. The protein P channels were not voltage-gated and had lifetimes of the order of several minutes. The current-voltage curves were linear for membrane potentials up to 150 mV, which suggested that Nernst-Planck-type barriers rather than Eyring barriers were involved in the movement of anions through the protein P channel.


In this paper, the problem of multi-view embedding from different visual cues and modalities is considered. We propose a unified solution for subspace learning methods using the Rayleigh quotient, which is extensible for multiple views, supervised learning, and nonlinear embeddings. Numerous methods including canonical correlation analysis, partial least square regression, and linear discriminant analysis are studied using specific intrinsic and penalty graphs within the same framework. Nonlinear extensions based on kernels and (deep) neural networks are derived, achieving better performance than the linear ones. Moreover, a novel multi-view modular discriminant analysis is proposed by taking the view difference into consideration. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multi-view embedding methods on visual object recognition and cross-modal image retrieval, and obtain superior results in both applications compared to related methods.


An effective method to significantly increase the rate of penetration (ROP) in hard formations is the application of ultra-high pressure jet-assisted drilling. To obtain a better understanding of the impact of the high-velocity jet on the hole bottom, the velocity, pressure and shear stress distributions are evaluated both analytically and numerically. These distributions are of great interest, since they particularly influence the fracture initiation and propagation of the rock to be drilled. The analytical approach is based on the mechanics of a turbulent impinging jet. This is mainly done to better comprehend the interaction of the governing parameters downhole and to find an optimum configuration for such a jet-assisted drilling system. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is conducted by an open source software for turbulent, steady-state, incompressible and isothermal flow. Nozzle diameter, impingement height and exit velocity are varied in several simulation runs. Moreover, the shear stress distribution at the bottom is determined in the CFD simulation, which will contribute to a better understanding of the crack initiation downhole. The contribution of this work is the evaluation of an optimum configuration to obtain the maximum impact of the high-velocity jet.


In order to predict material failure accurately, it is critical to have knowledge of deformation physics. Uniquely challenging is determination of the conversion coefficient of plastic work into thermal energy. Here, we examine the heat transfer problem associated with the experimental determination of β in copper and stainless steel. A numerical model of the tensile test sample is used to estimate temperature rises across the mechanical test sample at a variety of convection coefficients, as well as to estimate heat losses to the chamber by conduction and convection. This analysis is performed for stainless steel and copper at multiple environmental conditions. These results are used to examine the relative importance of convection and conduction as heat transfer pathways. The model is additionally used to perform sensitivity analysis on the parameters that will ultimately determine β. These results underscore the importance of accurate determination of convection coefficients and will be used to inform future design of samples and experiments. Finally, an estimation of convection coefficient for an example mechanical test chamber is detailed as a point of reference for the modeling results.


Bacterial forms were studied by electron microscopy in weakly saline lakes of the mesotrophic type in the Amu Darya delta; these forms differed in the character of water nutrition, certain physico-chemical and biological properties. The main population in the lakes represented by Vibrio and rods among which many small forms (0.3--0.5 mu) were found. Long filamentous forms were often encountered. A considerable number of organisms possessed prosthecae, fimbria and various protrustions. Budding bacteria were also detected. Microorganisms with peculiar morphology were most abundant in such places where the total incidence of bacteria was 1x10(6) per litre while water transparency was low.


This study focuses on a dynamic environment where data-intensive jobs and computing-intensive jobs are submitted to a grid at the same time. The authors analyse nine heuristic algorithms in a grid and give a comparison of them in a simulation environment. The nine heuristics are: (i) min-min, (ii) max-min, (iii) duplex, (iv) sufferage, (v) minimum execution time (MET), (vi) opportunistic load balancing (OLB), (vii) fast-fit, (viii) best-fit and (ix) adaptive scoring job scheduling (ASJS). In the simulation, different ratios between the data-intensive jobs and computing-intensive jobs are used to investigate for the performance of the nine heuristics under different arrival rates. Five parameters are used to estimate the performance of those methods. Those parameters include average execution time, average waiting time, the number of finished jobs (FB), the sum of file size that has been submitted to the grid (SFS) and the total number of instructions of all finished jobs (SINI). Simulation results show that four out of the nine heuristics have relative good performance in the job scheduling in the grid systems. They are best-fit, MET, ASJS and OLB.


Inomata et al . set out to evaluate the influence of Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation on specified time periods in the operating room relating to elective and emergency surgery under general anaesthesia at a busy acute hospital (>10,000 surgical cases/year) before and after December 12, 2015 (the date the hospital received JCI accreditation) (1). The period studied was December 2014–June 2016, during which 13,228 patients underwent surgery under general anaesthesia.


Background: Several states have passed Medicaid Home and Community-based Services (HCBS) waivers that expand eligibility criteria and available services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research has shown considerable variation in these waivers, but little is known about the extent to which they address the health care needs of children with ASD. Objective: To determine the effects of Medicaid HCBS waivers, and their characteristics, on unmet health care needs among children with ASD. Methods: We used data from the 2003, 2007, and 2011 waves of the National Survey of Children's Health with detailed information on the Medicaid HCBS waiver programs of 35 states. Quasi-difference-in-difference-in-differences models were used to determine the effects of waivers and their characteristics on parent report of unmet health care needs of children with ASD compared with children without ASD. Results: Greater waiver cost limits per child, estimated costs of services, and enrollment limits were associated with significant decreases in the adjusted rate of unmet health care needs, with considerable variation by household income level. Conclusions: These findings suggest that Medicaid HCBS waivers significantly decrease the unmet need for health care among children with ASD, most substantially among those who would not otherwise qualify for Medicaid. The findings regarding the effects of specific aspects of these waivers can inform the development of insurance policies in other states to address the needs of children with ASD.


TMEM16F is activated by elevated intracellular Ca2+, and functions both as a small-conductance ion channel permeable to Ca2+ and as a phospholipid scramblase. It is important to hold this positive feedback in check to prevent prolonged Ca2+-overloading in cells. We hypothesize that TMEM16F shifts its ion selectivity so that it is more permeable to Cl− than cations at high intracellular Ca2+ concentration. We tested this hypothesis with the Q559K mutant that shows no current rundown in excised patch with prolonged Ca2+ elevation. Recorded in NaCl−based solution, the channel shifted its ion selectivity from Na+-selective to Cl−-selective when intracellular Ca2+ was increased. The ion selectivity switch did not correlate with changes of channel open state. Rather, it was indicative of an alteration of electrostatic field in the permeation pathway. Shifting ion-selectivity synergistically by intracellular divalent ions and membrane potential could work as a built-in mechanism that allows TMEM16F to brake the positive feedback.


Abstract The application of remote sensing (RS) techniques to monitor ecosystem services has increased in recent years. Nevertheless, the potential application of RS to monitor some of ecosystem services is still challenging. The paper reviews the applications of RS to monitor ecosystem services of forests, mangroves and urban areas. Satellite data provide substantial information about dynamics of environmental changes over time from local to global scale. These information are useful data sources for the people who are involved in the on-going evaluation and decision-making process to manage ecosystem. Many recent research papers on the topic were reviewed to find new applications and limitations of RS for monitoring ecosystem services. Advanced RS techniques have high potential to monitor ecosystem services with the advancement of sensors ranging from aerial photography to high and medium resolution optical RS and from hyperspectral RS to microwave RS.


The purpose of this study was to compare single arc volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) to intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for spine SBRT in terms of target coverage, organ at risk (OAR) sparing and delivery performance. VMAT plans with 91 control points (VMAT-91CP) were generated for 15 spine metastases patients previously treated with a nine-field IMRT technique. VMAT and IMRT plans were compared based on target coverage, maximum spinal cord dose, maximum plan dose and volume of normal tissue receiving 20% to 80% of the prescribed dose. Treatment delivery time and monitor units (MU) were measured to determine delivery efficiency. To assess the impact of arc discretization in the treatment planning system (TPS), the VMAT-91CP plans were modified by almost doubling the number of CPs (VMAT-181CP). Planned-to-delivered dose agreement for both techniques was assessed using two types of 3D detector arrays. VMAT-91CP target coverage was equivalent to IMRT while maintaining or improving spinal cord sparing. This was achieved without increasing the volume of normal tissue receiving low or intermediate dose levels. Planned-to-delivered dose agreement equivalent to IMRT was achieved with VMAT, but required decreasing the CP angular spacing from 4° to 2° (VMAT-181CP plans). On average, VMAT-181CP plans reduced delivery time by 53% compared to IMRT. Single-arc VMAT for spine SBRT improved delivery efficiency while maintaining target coverage and OAR sparing compared to IMRT. VMAT plans generated with a CP gantry angular spacing of 2° is recommended to avoid a discretization effect in the TPS and ensure acceptable planned-to-delivered dose agreement.


This study is of an explorative nature based on six Globally Integrated Enterprises - GIEs (Palmisano, 2006), which can be seen as values based service companies (Pruzan, 1998; Edvardsson and Enquist, 2009). These six enterprises are: Ericson, IBM, IKEA, Volvo, Tetra Pack and Unilever. To further understand the methodological approach we look into different business logics. Vargo (2007) use the label transcendence to explain the logic of value creation. Enquist et. al. (2014) have further investigated this concept of transcendence for Business Logics and argue that it is a need not only for one single business logic. There are several business logics such as Exchange logic; Steering logic; Value creation logic; Business interaction logic; Responsibility logic; and Communication logic (Ibid). In this paper, we will, in an explorative way take this a step further and combine these business logics (Enquist et. al., 2014) with values based service thinking (Edvardsson and Enquist, 2009) and look for values based governance driven by SD-Logic for sustainable business in value networks or eco systems. For "evolving service for a complex, resilient, and sustainable world" the paper address interlink between corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and business models based on values based and triple bottom line thinking. Understanding how value is "networked" and "co-created" by "steering and navigating" in specific contextual settings is deemed essential in securing sustainable service business in which social and environmental perspectives and governance issues are embedded (Enquist et. al., 2014).


OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of prepared rhubarb in treating patients with pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) and its therapeutic mechanisms.

METHODS
Prepared rhubarb and nifedipine were given to the study group, while the nifedipine was given to the control group alone. The blood lipid, renal function, blood coagulation, fibrinolysis and immunological parameters were monitored.

RESULTS
In the study group, (1) Levels of triglycerides (TG) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) decreased and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) level increased significantly; (2) Plasma level of fibronectin (FN) and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) lowered significantly, plasma antithrombin (AT-III) level unchanged; (3) Serum beta 2 microglobulin (beta 2-MG) level and urinary level of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) decreased significantly; (4) CD8 of blood increased, CD4/CD8 and circulating immune complex (CIC) of blood reduced obviously. All of the above-mentioned parameters in the study group were significantly different from that of the control group.

CONCLUSION
The prepared rhubarb could reduce the vascular endothelial cell's damage significantly and alter the immune balance, which is effective in treating the PIH.


This book provides a critical and decolonial analysis of gender and development theory and practice in religious societies through the presentation of a detailed ethnographic study of conjugal violence in Ethiopia.

Responding to recent consensus that gender mainstreaming approaches have failed to produce their intended structural changes, Romina Istratii explains that gender and development analytical and theoretical frameworks are often constructed through western Euro-centric lenses ill-equipped to understand gender-related realities and human behaviour in non-western religious contexts and knowledge systems. Instead, Istratii argues for an approach to gender-sensitive research and practice which is embedded in insiders' conceptual understandings as a basis to theorise about gender, assess the possible gendered underpinnings of local issues and design appropriate alleviation strategies. Drawing on a detailed study of conjugal abuse realities and attitudes in two villages and the city of Aksum in Northern Ethiopia, she demonstrates how religious knowledge can be engaged in the design and implementation of remedial interventions.

This book carefully evidences the importance of integrating religious traditions and spirituality in current discussions of sustainable development in Africa, and speaks to researchers and practitioners of gender, religion, and development in Africa, scholars of non-western Christianities and Ethiopian studies, and domestic violence researchers and practitioners.


The distinction between offensive and defensive force is central to modern international law. As developed in the interwar years and later codified in the United Nations Charter, international law has strictly banned resort to offensive force, the only possible exception being operations mandated by the Security Council. In the just war tradition (JWT), by contrast, some kinds of offensive force are permitted, including humanitarian interventions. This article compares these two different ways of understanding the distinction between offensive and defensive force. It suggests that there is a need to specify in which cases the offensive use of force may be legitimate for humanitarian purposes, and it does so by drawing on the just war idea of `reaction against wrong-doing'. The concept of a reactive use of force, inspired by St. Augustine and the subsequent JWT, is thus central to the article's argument.


Research on biohydrometallurgy of secondary metal resources is primarily focused on the leaching of valuable metals. For secondary metal resources biological processing can be an economically more effective and environmentally friendlier alternative to traditional hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes. Therefore, biohydrometallurgy is a rapidly evolving biotechnology that has already provided revolutionary solutions to old problems associated with recovery of metals by conventional pyrometallurgy and chemical metallurgy. This review evaluates various processes of recovery of metals from waste materials and commercial applications are discussed. Case studies and future technology directions are reviewed. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry


Three kinds of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared with S-naproxen as template molecule, and methacrylic acid, acrylamide, 4-vinyl pyridine as functional monomers, respectively. The interaction between template molecule and different monomers were analyzed by UV spectra. Binding experiments and Scatchard analysis were adopted to compare the binding characteristics of MIPs. The results showed that the MIP based on 4-vinyl pyridine possessed the highest adsorption amount of 1.73 μmol for the template molecule, while the MIP based on methacrylic acid presented the lowest binding characteristic, which correlated positively with the interaction strength concluded by UV analysis.


Diet-related diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer are reaching epidemic proportions in many developed countries. Although there are increasing calls across the food regulatory system for interventions to help protect and promote public health, there is not a strong history of collaboration between public health nutritionists and food law experts in this area. This article explores the challenges facing public health nutritionists and food law experts and their opportunities to collaborate in the food regulatory system. Through a reflection on experiences with food fortification and food labelling policy debates, challenges to the objective of protecting public health and safety in the food regulatory system are identified. These challenges include: the absence of a coherent food and nutrition policy; the lack of a clear definition of what is meant by the objective 'to protect public health and safety'; capacity constraints; and limitations imposed by dominant regulatory reform agendas. Two case studies are provided to describe opportunities that are being pursued for public health nutritionists and food law experts to collaborate in the food regulatory system. The first case study describes a research project investigating reform of the Australian food regulatory system in relation to obesity prevention. The second case study describes a research proposal to review the role of nutrition in decision-making within the Australian food regulatory system. The paper concludes that, to become more effective when working across the food regulatory system to protect and promote public health, public health nutritionists and food law experts need to collaborate more strategically in research and practice.


Background A walk-in weekly men's sexual health clinical service, provided by a male clinical team, was established in 2006. Methods We analysed new patient episodes at a dedicated men's sexual health clinic in Alexandra Township, South Africa over 6 years (2007–2012). STI syndromes were treated immediately and all men were offered urine-based molecular screening for Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) infections and serological screening for syphilis. Clinical and laboratory data were analysed using STATATM version 10. Results Among the 876 new clinical episodes, the most common presentations were genital warts (432, 49.5%), male urethritis syndrome (188, 21.6%) and genital ulceration (82, 9.4%). The proportion of patients attending for genital wart treatment increased over time. Few men (51, 5.9%) presented as sexual contacts. The patients' peak age range was 25–29 years; only 40 (4.6%) men were < 20 years old. HIV testing history was provided by 871 men: 156/430 (36.3%) men who knew their serostatus were HIV positive but 441 (50.6%) had never tested. Laboratory testing of 822 urine specimens detected 108 (13.1%) NG, 100 (12.2%) CT, 51 (6.2%) TV and 68 (8.3%) MG infections. The syndromic approach alone would not have treated 16 (14.8%) NG, 57 (57.0%) CT, 46 (90.2%) TV and 49 (72.1%) MG infections. NG/CT infections were most prevalent among those aged 18–19 years old (34.5% and 17.2%, respectively); in contrast, TV/MG infections were most prevalent in the 35–39 year old age group (1.7% and 11.8%, respectively). The prevalence of rapid plasma reagin seroreactivity was 2.2%. Overall condom use was 16.9% with regular partners and 52.5% with non-regular partners. Conclusion Asymptomatic STIs, poor clinic attendance by youth, poor uptake of HIV testing by men and low rates of condom use with partners remain challenges for STI management in South Africa.


With the advance of wireless technology, wireless devices are capable of adjusting transmit power and physical (PHY) layer data-rate. In this paper, we investigate the problem of how to adjust the power level and the PHY rate in order to maximize the network throughput in wireless ad hoc networks. Solving this problem can help compute the network capacity of ad hoc networks, which has drawn a lot of attention recently. In our study, we find that there exist intertwined relationships among maximum network throughput, power, and PHY rate. These intertwined relationships make computing the maximum network throughput a difficult problem. To get around the coupled relationships among power, PHY rate and network throughput, we take a simulation-based optimization approach, i.e., use a recursive randomized algorithm to find the solution. We study the convergence and complexity of our algorithm. Our results show that our algorithm always converges and the computation complexity is polynomial. The simulations also show that our algorithm can iteratively improve the network throughput, given an initial feasible power and rate setting.


Can we consider cancer to be a "metabolic disease"? Tumors are the result of a metabolic selection, forming tissues composed of heterogeneous cells that generally express an overactive metabolism as a common feature. In fact, cancer cells have increased needs for both energy and biosynthetic intermediates to support their growth and invasiveness. However, their high proliferation rate often generates regions that are insufficiently oxygenated. Therefore, their carbohydrate metabolism must rely mostly on a glycolytic process that is uncoupled from oxidative phosphorylation. This metabolic switch, also known as the Warburg effect, constitutes a fundamental adaptation of tumor cells to a relatively hostile environment, and supports the evolution of aggressive and metastatic phenotypes. As a result, tumor glycolysis may constitute an attractive target for cancer therapy. This approach has often raised concerns that antiglycolytic agents may cause serious side effects toward normal cells. The key to selective action against cancer cells can be found in their hyperbolic addiction to glycolysis, which may be exploited to generate new anticancer drugs with minimal toxicity. There is growing evidence to support many glycolytic enzymes and transporters as suitable candidate targets for cancer therapy. Herein we review some of the most relevant antiglycolytic agents that have been investigated thus far for the treatment of cancer.


This study investigates the relationship between CO2 emissions, economic growth, energy use and electricity production by hydroelectric sources in Brazil. To verify the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis we use time-series data for the period 1971-2011. The autoregressive distributed lag methodology was used to test for cointegration in the long run. Additionally, the vector error correction model Granger causality test was applied to verify the predictive value of independent variables. Empirical results find that there is a quadratic long run relationship between CO2emissions and economic growth, confirming the existence of an EKC for Brazil. Furthermore, energy use shows increasing effects on emissions, while electricity production by hydropower sources has an inverse relationship with environmental degradation. The short run model does not provide evidence for the EKC theory. The differences between the results in the long and short run models can be considered for establishing environmental policies. This suggests that special attention to both variables-energy use and the electricity production by hydroelectric sources- could be an effective way to mitigate CO2 emissions in Brazil


Few legal scholars would dispute the constitutional, historical, and political importance of the events of 1937, when the Supreme Court, faced with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's plan to reorganize the federal judiciary, ultimately approved a sweeping interpretation of governmental authority to implement socioeconomic legislation. The course of events, although frequently canvassed, has yielded conflicting interpretations of the actions and motivations of the Justices who took part in the fabled "switch in time that saved nine."
Felix Frankfurter arguably played a pivotal role in disseminating a particular history of the events of 1937. Reversing his own privately expressed position of dismay at the Court's actions in 1937, Frankfurter, in a memorial tribute to Justice Owen Roberts in 1955, revised the history of the events of 1937, a history that placed the Court above the fray of politics in its decisionmaking.
The events of 1954–1959, the era of Brown v. Board of Education, played an integral part in shaping Frankfurter's revised history of 1937 and led to its widespread acceptance. Telling lessons about postwar legal thought and the evolution of constitutional history surfaced from the interrelationship of the aforementioned constitutional events.


Artist–academic collaborations are fuelled by increasing institutional pressures to show the impact of academic research. This article departs from the celebratory accounts of collaborative work and pragmatic toolkits for successful partnerships, which are dominant in existing scholarship, arguing for the need to critically interrogate the structural conditions under which collaborations take place. Based on a reflexive case study of a project developed in the context of Tate Exchange, one of the UK's highest-profile platforms for knowledge exchange, we reveal three sets of (unequal) pressures, which mark artist–academic collaborations in the contemporary neoliberal academy: asymmetric funding and remuneration structures; uneven pressures of audit cultures; acceleration and temporal asymmetries. Innovations at the level of individual projects or partners can only mitigate the negative effects to a limited extent. Instead this article offers a systemic critique of the political economy of artist–academic collaborations and shifts the research agenda to developing a collective response.


The core concept of smart manufacturing is based on digitization to construct intelligent production and management in the manufacturing process. By digitizing the production process and connecting all levels from product design to service, the purpose of improving manufacturing efficiency, reducing production cost, enhancing product quality, and optimizing user experience can be achieved. To digitize the manufacturing process, IoT technology will have to be introduced into the manufacturing process to collect and analyze process information. However, one of the most important problems in building the industrial IoT (IIoT) environment is that different industrial network protocols are used for different equipment in factories. Therefore, the information in the manufacturing process may not be easily exchanged and obtained. To solve the above problem, a smart factory network architecture based on MQTT (MQ Telemetry Transport), IoT communication protocol, is proposed in this study, to construct a heterogeneous interface communication bridge between the machine tool, embedded device Raspberry Pi, and website. Finally, the system architecture is implemented and imported into the factory, and a smart manufacturing information management system is developed. The edge computing module is set up beside a three-axis machine tool, and a human-machine interface is built for the user controlling and monitoring. Users can also monitor the system through the dynamically updating website at any time and any place. The function of real-time gesture recognition based on image technology is developed and built on the edge computing module. The gesture recognition results can be transmitted to the machine controller through MQTT, and the machine will execute the corresponding action according to different gestures to achieve human-robot collaboration. The MQTT transmission architecture developed here is validated by the given edge computing application. It can serve as the basis for the construction of the IIoT environment, assist the traditional manufacturing industry to prepare for digitization, and accelerate the practice of smart manufacturing.


In this paper, we analyze the content of the most popular videos posted on YouTube in the first phase of the Zika-virus outbreak in 2016, and the user responses to those videos. More specifically, we examine the extent to which informational and conspiracy theory videos differ in terms of user activity (number of comments, shares, likes and dislikes), and the sentiment and content of the user responses. Our results show that 12 out of the 35 videos in our data set focused on conspiracy theories, but no statistical differences were found in the number of user activity and sentiment between the two types of videos. The content of the user responses shows that users respond differently to sub-topics related to Zika-virus. The implications of the results for future online health promotion campaigns are discussed.


The apparent divergence between producer and retail prices in the presence of a marketing chain is a common facet in agricultural industries. There is evidence to suggest that changes in producer prices are not passed on fully to changes in retail price, especially in the situation where producer prices are in decline. In the presence of market power reductions in producer prices are not reflected in reductions in retail prices but increases in producer prices are immediately reflected in increases in retail prices. Asymmetric price transmission will result from situations where firms are facing different elasticities for their inputs and outputs. This paper looks at the Australian meat industry, in particular pigmeat, and attempts to identify whether the presence of marketing margins results in asymmetric price transmission between producer and retail prices. Error correction models suggest that the speed of adjustment of retail prices to changes in producer prices is very slow, indicating that market power in terms of intertemporal price averaging exists. When close substitutes, such as beef, chicken, and lamb are taken into consideration it seems that retail prices of pork are sensitive to changes in those retail prices, specifically changes in retail beef prices. The speed of adjustment of the retail price of pork is particularly fast when retail prices of beef are taken into consideration. This implies that pork is competitive with beef at the retail level, indicating horizontal competition exists but not vertical.


SIR Pigeons are known to be associated with such conditions as aspergillosis and pigeon fanciers' lung. We wish to report an additional health hazard in which they figure. Several patients on one ward of this hospital developed an itching, raised erythematous rash of the trunk and limbs. Numerous tiny insects were discovered on their bodies and in their bedclothes, and were subsequently identified by the Natural History branch of the British Museum as Dermanyssus gallinae (De Geer), commonly known as the red mite of poultry. It is said to be the commonest blood-sucking mite of domestic and wild birds in the British Isles. Usually, as in the present instance, human infestation can be traced to abandoned nests and roosts in the upper parts of buildings, usually old ones. The rash subsided quickly after the patients, clothing, and bedclothes, etc., were dealt with professionally with an organophosphorus preparation.-We are, etc.,


Purpose: This study's aim is to review and synthesize the scientific evidence for financial capability interventions that combine financial education and financial products and services to affect financial behavior. Method: A systematic review process was used to search for, screen, and extract data from relevant studies. Following descriptive analysis, we calculated effect sizes. Results: After excluding duplicates, non-relevant and ineligible reports, this review included 24 unique studies. This review identified several different types of previously evaluated financial capability interventions. Few interventions were evaluated by more than one study that measured the same or similar outcomes. Therefore, evidence is sparse about whether financial capability interventions improved participants' financial behaviors and/or outcomes. Conclusion: While each type of financial capability intervention has a unique evidence base, this lack of evidence across financial capability interventions points to the need to develop a more definitive evidence base for financial capability interventions about the financial outcomes.


A series of high-efficiency Pt/ZrO2 catalysts were successfully prepared by simple methods on the basis of a ZrO2 support with a mixed monoclinic/tetragonal phase structure. The activity test results showed that the mixed phase catalysts exhibited higher catalytic activity than the pure monoclinic phase, and HCHO can be completely oxidized into CO2 and H2O at near ambient temperature. XRD, Raman and HRTEM results demonstrated that the monoclinic–tetragonal phase interface with abundant defects was formed due to the introduction of the tetragonal phase. According to the results of TEM, XPS and H2-TPR, the mixed phase interfacial structure can induce the formation of the active oxygen species, ionic Ptδ+ species, strong metal-support interaction and low-temperature reducibility, which was vital for the significant improvement of the catalytic activity. Furthermore, the specific HCHO reaction rate of the catalysts at 55 °C increased from 0.8 × 10−3 to 10.4 × 10−3 mmol h−1 m−2 and the activation energy decreased remarkably from 213.5 to 24.7 kJ mol−1 with the increase of the biphase interface content. In situ DRIFTS spectra showed that the special interfacial structure can change the reaction pathway of HCHO oxidation and inhibit the formation of inert carbonate species, thus greatly enhancing the HCHO oxidation activity.


Major innovations are becoming available for research in language development and disorders. Among these innovations, recent tools allow naturalistic recording in children's homes and automated analysis to facilitate representative sampling. The present study employed all-day recordings during the second year of life in a child exposed to three languages, using a fully-wearable battery-powered recorder, with automated analysis to locate appropriate time periods for coding. This method made representative sampling possible, and afforded the opportunity for a case study indicating that language spoken directly to the child had dramatically more effect on vocabulary learning than audible language not spoken to the child, as indicated by chi-square analyses of the child's verbal output and input in each of the languages. The work provides perspective on the role of learning words by overhearing in childhood, and suggests the value of representative naturalistic sampling as a means of research on vocabulary acquisition.


Fortlax is an air-cooled data center in Norrbotten. The potential of future investments
in data centers is prosperous, but sustainability is an increasingly important factor. It
is important to make sure that the data centers are sufficiently cooled while too much
forced cooling leads to economical losses and a waste of energy. The purpose of this
thesis is to develop a CFD model of a server room at Fortlax data center that accurately
predicts the temperature and flow field. The goal is to develop the CFD model in order
to evaluate different cooling systems and also improve the placement of the server racks.
Most of the server racks are only half full at the moment, but the heat load is supposed
to increase in the near future. Therefore, it has been assumed that all the server racks
generate full heat load. The commercial CFD software ANSYS CFX 16.0 has been used
to perform the simulations. The current cooling system with the current placement of
the server racks resulted in some insufficiently cooled server racks. The performance
of the cooling system was significantly improved when the hard-floor configuration was
replaced by a raised-floor configuration. The design strategy based on hot/cold-aisles has
become the standard when raised-floor configurations are used. However, the raised-floor
configuration with parallel rows of server racks turned out to be the setup that performed
best based on the performance metrics that were used to evaluate the results in this thesis.


The key parameters for Simulated Annealing Algorithm (SAA) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) were determined by test experiments. With optimal parameters obtained for both algorithms, the multilayer antireflection coatings in the 7.7-12.3μm band and a neutral beam splitter in the visible region were designed. Results showed that, for infrared multilayer antireflection coatings, the evaluation function value of SAA was 18.7% lower than that of GA, and the average transmittance of SAA was 0.4% higher than that of GA. Compared to GA, SAA achieved a higher average transmittance and a more flat transmittance curve. And for the neutral beam splitter, the running time of GA was 0.407s less than that of SAA, whereas the convergence effect of SAA was superior to that of GA. Therefore, the design with SAA has certain advantages for both the infrared multilayer antireflection coating and the beam splitter.


We specify an "individual-based" continuous time model for swarm aggregation in n-dimensional space and study its stability properties. We show that the individuals (autonomous agents or biological creatures) will form a cohesive swarm in a finite time. Moreover, we obtain an explicit bound on the swarm size, which depends only on the parameters of the swarm model.


The primate striatum is composed of limbic, cognitive, and sensorimotor functional domains. Although the effects of cocaine have generally been associated with the ventral striatum, or limbic domain, recent evidence in rodents suggests the involvement of the dorsal striatum (cognitive and sensorimotor domains) in cocaine self-administration. The goals of the present studies were to map the topography of the functional response to cocaine throughout the entire extent of the striatum of monkeys self-administering cocaine and determine whether this response is modified by chronic exposure to cocaine. Rhesus monkeys were trained to self-administer 0.3 mg/kg per injection cocaine for 5 d (initial stages; n ϭ 4) or 100 d (chronic stages; n ϭ 4) and compared with monkeys trained to respond under an identical schedule of food reinforcement (n ϭ 6). Monkeys received 30 reinforcers per session, and metabolic mapping was conducted at the end of the 5th or 100th self-administration session. In the initial phases of cocaine exposure, self-administration significantly decreased functional activity in the ventral striatum, but only in very restricted portions of the dorsal striatum. With chronic cocaine self-administration, however, the effects of cocaine intensified and spread dorsally to include most aspects of both caudate and putamen. Early experiences with cocaine, then, involve mainly the limbic domain, an area that mediates motivational and affective functions. In contrast, as exposure to cocaine continues, the impact of cocaine impinges progressively on the processing of sensorimotor and cognitive information, as well as the affective and motivational information processed in the ventral striatum.


In recent years, theoreticians, researchers, and practitioners have become increasingly interested in older adults and the aging process. This volume draws on related disciplines to better understand the biological, psychological, and social aspects of aging. "Social Work with the Aged and Their Families" covers areas of central interest to those coping with the needs of an aging population. Among the topics addressed are assessment of the aging, taking into account biological age, psychological age, and socio-cultural and spiritual age. Greene also considers the importance of the family system, family roles and development, functional-age individual and family intervention, and group and community interventions. The scientific and systematic study of aging is known as gerontology. Geriatric social workers are those who have applied established social work theories in an attempt to find suitable techniques for working with their elderly clients. The need for specialized services has given birth to various services and programs. For example, meals-on-wheels and home health care services have been designed to meet specific physical needs of older adults. However, mental health services have lagged far behind as practitioners struggled to adapt such specialties as family therapy to families of later years. A major contribution of this book, now in its third edition, is the functional-age model of intergenerational treatment (FAM), which is an outgrowth of that demand. The functional-age model of intergenerational treatment is an integrative theoretical framework for social workers interested in clinical social work practice with older adults and their families. Since its initial construction in 1986, the model has been augmented by more recent concepts related to successful aging, spirituality, and resiliency. These additions, together with the original assessment and intervention strategies, present the major converging conceptual trends that constitute a model for twenty-first century social work practice in the field of aging.


Clinical Image: A 37-year-old male with known case of paranoid schizophrenia presented to our emergency department after he inserted 2 pencils into his penis leading to pain and bleeding. Patient had significant history with multiple attempts of self harm by ingesting sharp objects, batteries, sleeping pills and cutting his wrist. He underwent cystoscopic removal with Foley catheter placement and his symptoms gradually resolved in few days. His hospital course was complicated on fourth day of admission as he apparently ate electric glass light bulb from the bathroom with intent of secondary gain. Initial X-ray abdomen showed numerous scattered radio- opaque foreign bodies in the entire colon (Figure 1). Computed tomography of chest and abdomen didn't reveal perforation. Patient was kept NPO and observed clinically with serial abdominal examination. Follow-up serial X-ray abdomen was done which showed gradual clearing of radio opaque foreign bodies until day 11 when all the foreign body was completely cleared (Figure 2). Patient didn't have any symptoms and there were no signs of peritonitis or bowel perforation during the entire hospital stay. The patient was eventually discharged from the hospital. Foreign body ingestion is encountered commonly in clinical practice [1]. Most ingested foreign bodies pass spontaneously. However few cases of foreign body ingestion require endoscopic removal or surgery to treat complications. Even though the risk of a complication caused by a sharp-pointed object is as high as 35%, but these patients could be observed clinically provided there are no symptoms or signs of perforation.


SKD 11 tool steel is among the most popular metals in mold industries for making different kinds of cold work molds and dies with high accuracy and long service life. The demand for higher quality, lower manufacturing costs, particularly the environmentally friendly characteristics, have provided the stimuli for manufacturers and researchers to find alternative solutions. An excellent media is formed in the cutting zone by using MQL nanofluids in order to enhance the thermal conductivity and tribological characteristics; therefore, improving the machining performance. The formation of the lubricating film as well as the rolling action of nanoparticles in contact zones has gained much attention in the machining field. In this research work, the application of MQL Al2O3 nanofluids with vegetable oils and emulsion 5% is developed for slotting end milling of SKD 11 steel using normal HSS tool. The cutting forces, tool wear, tool life, and surface roughness are investigated to evaluate the effectiveness of MQL nanofluid on cutting performance. The experimental results reveal that the cutting forces and cutting temperature decrease and the surface quality and tool life enhance. Furthermore, the improvement of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids is proven when compared to pure fluids. Due to the rise of viscosity and thermal conductivity, the soybean oil-based nanofluid, which is almost inherently nontoxic, gives superior lubricating and cooling properties suitable for MQL application compared to emulsion-based nanofluids. The novel environmental friendly technology definitely brings out many technological and economic benefits in machining practice.


: Under similar conditions observations were performed in 157 humans: 9 patients with secondary defects of the interatrial septum (DIS-II), 122 patients within 1-15 years after surgery for the defect in question and 26 healthy humans. In addition to the known disturbances in hemodynamics of the small circulation circle accompanying DIS-II there were also disorders in the large blood circulation circle and respiration. The disorders were most pronounced under physical exercise. After operation the hemodynamics was found to be almost normal. The pattern of response to physical exercise in most operated patients was in full conformity with that of healthy people.


Abstract Drawing on a variety of primary sources and numerous interviews and personal conversations with adherents from East Asia, Europe and the United States, this paper sheds light on the latest historical and doctrinal developments in the South Korean Unification Movement, following the passing of its founder and self-proclaimed Saviour, Mun Sŏn-myŏng, in September 2012. Recent personnel changes resulting in the uncontested leadership of Mun's wife, Han Hak-cha, as well as the two key events of 2012 and 2013-Mun's funeral and Foundation Day-will be briefly outlined. Concomitant doctrinal alterations in the interpretation of the movement's integral millenarian vision, fleshing out as 'Cheon Il Guk 2.0' and entailing a revised notion of Foundation Day and the newly launched Vision 2020 scheme, will also be discussed. Ultimately, this paper shows how the Unification Movement has rendered its executive and theological base apt to preserve its systemically constitutive millenarian agenda for a post-Mun and post-Foundation Day era.


ABSTRACT Growth of spar calcite crystals in rootcretes from the Bluff Formation of Grand Cayman was mediated by spores (1 µm diameter) through a three-stage paragenetic sequence. Stage I involved calcification of the spore walls and, in some cases, precipitation of minute anhedral calcite crystals around the spores. In Stage II spar calcite grew around the spores which acted as nuclei for precipitation. Stage III was marked by the development of overgrowth zones around clusters of spores that occurred along the edges of smaller, previously formed crystals. Precipitation of calcite inside the spores occurred at any stage. Spore identity was progressively lost as the crystals grew. The resultant crystals appear identical to abiogenic crystals, because they contain little or no evidence of he spores that mediated their formation.


This article charts the past, present and future of the BiReCon event, which was the inspiration for this special issue of the Journal of Bisexuality. We provide the historical context for such an academic conference on bisexuality, and the key research which had been conducted on bisexuality in the UK prior to this. The aims of the 2010 BiReCon event are summarized, and a brief overview of the event is presented. Finally, we chart some potential future directions for BiReCon and other similar conferences. The full program for BiReCon can be found at the end of the article, along with links to YouTube clips from the event and other related Websites.


Field experiment was conducted in 2014 cropping season at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Agricultural Education Department, Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe to investigate the effect of different vine  lengths on the growth and yield of orange-fleshed sweet potato ( Ipomea batatas(L) Lam ) in ultisols of Anambra South Eastern Nigeria. The treatments were five different vine lengths of orange-fleshed sweet potato (20cm,  25cm, 30cm, 35cm and 40cm). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design  replicated three times. Data were collected on vine length and number of leaves per plant at 4 weeks interval,  while data on yield parameters were collected at physiological maturity. The statistical analysis indicated  significant differences in the parameters measured at 5% level of probability. Result showed that among the  different vine length used, plants sown with 30cm vine length performed significantly better than the others in  both growth and yield attributes, followed by 20cm vine lengths. The study therefore recommended that 30cm  vine length is most suitable for orange-fleshed sweet potato and should be used for optimum growth and yield in Anambra South-East, Nigeria. Keywords : Orange-fleshed, sweet potato, growth, yield and vine length.


This was a randomized, cross-over experiment designed to determine which beta-adrenergic receptors, beta 1, beta 2, or both, regulate metabolic rate in humans. All subjects (3 women, 4 men) were administered a 7-d therapeutic dose of a selective beta 1-antagonist (atenolol 50 mg BID), a combined beta 1, beta 2-antagonist (propranolol 80 mg BID), and a placebo control (BID). Indirect calorimetry was determined before and after 1 h of submaximal exercise. Exercise was performed at 50% of the trial specific VO2peak because maximal exercise was significantly decreased in the presence of the nonselective beta 1, beta 2-antagonist (VO2peak placebo: 44.90 +/- 4.40 mL.kg-1.min-1 vs beta 1, beta 2-antagonism: 39.20 +/- 3.00 mL.kg-1.min-1; P < 0.05). Both the beta 1 and the combined beta 1, beta 2-adrenoreceptor antagonists reduced resting oxygen consumption to a similar extent (0.247 +/- 0.007 L.min-1 placebo, vs 0.218 +/- 0.007 L.min-1 beta 1-antagonism, vs 0.226 +/- 0.007 L.min-1 beta 1, beta 2-antagonism; P < 0.05). However, the 30-min and 60-min excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (mean EPOC) remained unchanged. It is concluded that the beta 1-receptors are regulating the effects of the sympathetic nervous system on resting but not exercise recovery metabolic rate. These metabolic side effects may suggest that changes need to be made in the nutritional requirements of patients using beta-adrenergic antagonists.


This dissertation completed was mainly motivated by the desire to provide a good management for fire fighting system in University Technology Mara ( Uitm ) Shah Alam. This is intended to establish a better fire fighting system planning to be adopted in the management practice of University Technology Mara ( Uitm ) Shah Alam. The study has specific aim and objectives to achieve which is the main part of the research. The primary aim of this study is to understand the management of the fire fighting system in this institutional. Meanwhile, the second objective is to identify the awareness of the occupant about the importance of fire fighting system in building and the third objective is to investigate the problem occurs for recommend a better approach in managing fire fighting system UITM Shah Alam. This dissertation includes the outlines of the introduction to the subject and each subtopic, and also explanation about fire fighting management systems in UITM Shah Alam. Research methodologies which apply are through literature review, observation, questionnaire survey to the students and staff, and interview session with mechanical engineer in facilities management department. Then, data analysis and findings are based on literature review, research method and additional outsource references. From analysis, it can be found that the management of fire fighting systems for UITM Shah Alam are moderate and the knowledge about fire fighting among student and staff are lack. Finally, conclusion and recommendation is made according to research findings. Fire fighting or maintenance management department should re-examine about step and method to accomplish this fire fighting.


The purpose of this study was to test melanoma vaccines consisting of peptides and immunological adjuvants for optimal immunogenicity and to evaluate laboratory immune monitoring for in vivo relevance. Forty-nine HLA-A2 positive patients with Melan-A positive melanoma were repeatedly vaccinated with Melan-A peptide, with or without immune adjuvant AS02B (QS21 and MPL) or IFA. Peptide-specific CD8 T cells in PBLs were analyzed ex vivo using fluorescent HLA-A2/Melan-A multimers and IFN-gamma ELISPOT assays. The vaccines were well tolerated. In vivo expansion of Melan-A-specific CD8 T cells was observed in 13 patients (1/12 after vaccination with peptide in AS02B and 12/17 after vaccination with peptide in IFA). The T cells produced IFN-gamma and downregulated CD45RA and CD28. T-cell responses correlated with inflammatory skin reactions at vaccine injection sites (P < 0.001) and with DTH reaction to Melan-A peptide (P < 0.01). Twenty-six of 32 evaluable patients showed progressive disease, whereas 4 patients had stable disease. The two patients with the strongest Melan-A-specific T-cell responses experienced regression of metastases in skin, lymph nodes, and lung. We conclude that repeated vaccination with Melan-A peptide in IFA frequently leads to sustained responses of specific CD8 T cells that are detectable ex vivo and correlate with inflammatory skin reactions.


A bosonic state is commonly considered nonclassical (or quantum) if its Glauber-Sudarshan $P$ function is not a classical probability density, which implies that only coherent states and their statistical mixtures are classical. We quantify the nonclassicality of a single qubit, defined by the vacuum and single-photon states, by applying the following four well-known measures of nonclassicality: (1) the nonclassical depth, $\ensuremath{\tau}$, related to the minimal amount of Gaussian noise which changes a nonpositive $P$ function into a positive one; (2) the nonclassical distance $D$, defined as the Bures distance of a given state to the closest classical state, which is the vacuum for the single-qubit Hilbert space; together with (3) the negativity potential (NP), and (4) concurrence potential, which are the nonclassicality measures corresponding to the entanglement measures (i.e., the negativity and concurrence, respectively) for the state generated by mixing a single-qubit state with the vacuum on a balanced beam splitter. We show that complete statistical mixtures of the vacuum and single-photon states are the most nonclassical single-qubit states regarding the distance $D$ for a fixed value of both the depth $\ensuremath{\tau}$ and NP in the whole range $[0,1]$ of their values, as well as the NP for a given value of $\ensuremath{\tau}$ such that $\ensuremath{\tau}g0.315\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}4$. Conversely, pure states are the most nonclassical single-qubit states with respect to $\ensuremath{\tau}$ for a given $D$, NP versus $D$, and $\ensuremath{\tau}$ versus NP. We also show the ``relativity'' of these nonclassicality measures by comparing pairs of single-qubit states: if a state is less nonclassical than another state according to some measure then it might be more nonclassical according to another measure. Moreover, we find that the concurrence potential is equal to the nonclassical distance for single-qubit states. This implies an operational interpretation of the nonclassical distance as the potential for the entanglement of formation.


Following an earlier study documenting the relationships between wood anatomical features and climate, we examine the utility of dicotyledonous wood assemblages in assessing paleoclimate. The wood anatomy of dicotyledons from modern forest sites in North, Central, and South America, England, Africa, Malaysia, and the Pacific islands was used to derive equations to predict site mean annual temperature. The best equations gave estimates within 5 degrees C at validation sites. Because trees are physiologically active over a wide range in temperature throughout the year, it would be surprising if wood anatomical characters were more finely tuned to temperature. Mean annual temperature (MAT) was estimated from five fossil wood assemblages: Yellow-stone, Wyoming (early Eocene); Clarno Nut Beds, Oregon (middle Eocene); Post, Oregon (late Eocene); Vantage, Washington (middle Miocene); and Fejej, Ethiopia (Miocene). We used the two best equations to estimate paleotemperature at each site; the MAT estimates differed by 0.1 degrees C at Fejej and 5.7 degrees C at Yellowstone, with differences intermediate to these at the other fossil sites. Compared to present-day values, the paleotemperature estimates indicate that, at middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, mean annual temperatures were warmer in the Eocene and Miocene, whereas the near-equatorial Fejej site was the same temperature in the Miocene as it is today. Where possible, we compared the MAT estimates obtained using fossil woods with those obtained using fossil leaves, and found discrepancies of up to 13 degrees C. These differences may, in part, reflect the complicating effect of evolutionary trends in wood anatomical characters that may have been independent of climate change.


Many protocols and applications in wireless multi-hop networks indispensably use broad- casting to delivery messages to all nodes in a network. Wireless routing protocols such as DSR, AODV and ODRMP broadcast route discovery messages, and many application protocols exchange query and response messages by broadcasting. Hence, the efficiency of broadcasting is critical to efficiency of these wireless protocols. Efficient wireless broadcast- ing is a topic that this thesis studies where efficiency is measured by the total transmission number to broadcast one unit data to the whole network. The study is done in two ways: extending classical methods and utilizing a novel method, network coding. Classical broadcasting protocols are based on store-and-forward routing that views pack- ets as atomic objects and lets a node store incoming packets in its local queue for some delay, before forwarding one or several copies of the packets to its neighbors. Among the classical broadcast protocols, the simplest and most widely used broadcast protocol is pure flood- ing. Pure flooding reliably provides total coverage of a network, but causes redundancy of packets, resulting in unnecessary collisions, and enormous inefficiency. To combat this inef- ficiency, many efficient broadcast protocols have been studied using probabilistic algorithms such as a gossip protocol, or algorithms based on topology control such as a Multi-Point Relay (MPR) based protocol. These broadcast protocols have been successfully used in many wireless protocols standardized in IEEE 802.11 and IETF. One possible application of the broadcast protocols is wireless mesh networks standard- ized in 802.11Working Group S. The 802.11 mesh networks face challenges such as inefficient broadcasting of so-called associated station information that is partially updated; there ex- ists redundancy between newly updated data and already broadcasted data. This thesis addresses these challenges by introducing an Association Discovery Protocol (ADP) that is combined with MPR-based broadcasting and integrated with an extension of an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol for the 802.11 mesh networks. The results of analysis with modeling and simulation show that the protocol effectively decreases control overhead. However, for continuous data traffic, there exists another possible broadcast solution, which could theoretically outperform the broadcast protocols with classical store-and-forward routing and would not require precise topology information. This solution is network coding. Theoretically, network coding enables an optimized solution for wireless broadcasting in a polynomial time, while it is NP-complete with classical store-and-forward routing and only approximation algorithms exist. Hence, broadcasting with network coding is, theoretically, at least as efficient as any other broadcasting. This thesis focuses on utilizing network coding specifically as a practical solution for efficient wireless broadcasting. For the practical solution, this thesis proposes simple al- gorithms based on intuitive rationale about optimal efficiency of wireless network coding. The efficiency of the proposed simple algorithms is theoretically analyzed, and proven to be asymptotically optimal. The efficiency also is experimentally analyzed and shown, in some examples, to outperform other broadcasting with classical store-and-forward routing. Finally, from these simple algorithms we derive a practical broadcasting protocol executing with a simple and efficient coding method (that is, random linear coding). In addition, we propose a simple novel method for real-time decoding that could be combined with the practical network coding broadcasting protocol.


At the dawn of the twenty-first century, in what some have termed the 'postmodern age', and amidst
scientific and technological advancements and interconnected globalized economies, religion
appears to play an even more significant and public role in rural societies in Africa than in the past.
Due to this, some interesting questions have risen, such as the following: To what extent do religious
beliefs shape the economy and socio-demography of rural people and, conversely, to what extent do
economic, socio-demographic interests influence the religious beliefs and practices? Do religions in
rural Africa contribute to environmental conservation and, if so, how? What are the religious
perceptions and beliefs of local people with respect to the natural environment? Consequently the
purpose was to examine the association between core religiosity variables and perceptions about the
natural environment and the use of natural resources in rural Kilimanjaro, with socio-demographic
variables being controlled. There were 360 households who took part in the survey. It was
hypothesized that a) there is a positive correlation between religious phenomenology and sociodemographic
outcomes and b) there is positive association between religiosity and perceptions about
nature and the use of natural resources.
Households were required to complete a standard questionnaire. Core variables for the analysis of
religiosity and socio-demography, and religiosity and the natural environment, were selected through
the use of factor analysis and nominal group techniques.
The majority of the respondents belonged to the Roman Catholic denomination (N=282; 78.33%).
Therefore, the results and analysis of religion, socio-demography and the natural environment were
based on households who reported that they adhered to the Roman Catholic faith.
The results show that, fundamentally, as far as households are concerned, the associations between
religiosity (belief in God, reading religious texts and church attendance) and the natural environment
phenomenology, controlling for socio-demographic factors, are generally weak and variable. It
appears that the ordinary adherent to the Catholic faith in rural Kilimanjaro continues with his/her
routine life, without serious environmental concerns, unless there is some good socio-economic
reason for him/her to interact with the environment. Perhaps what relates to environmental concerns,
or a lack thereof, of rural households is not religiosity as such but their intimacy with the natural
environment in the pursuit of their daily livelihoods.
It seems also that most rural households, particularly women and primary school leavers, attend
organized religious institution services weekly and read religious texts almost daily, making this
setting in rural Kilimanjaro a prime and ideal venue for reaching and recruiting potential participants
for socio-economic and environmental programmes.
Further research and the implications are discussed. Both theoretical and policy implications are also
discussed.